Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) issued a state of emergency decree on October 29 to suspend the elections of university rectors, authorizing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to appoint them instead.
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Congress introduced the Protecting Israel Against Economic Discrimination Act this week to combat efforts at the UN to blacklist companies doing business with Israel, and calls on the U.S. Export-Import Bank to consider denying applicant companies engaged in politically-motivated boycotts of the country.
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Iranian and Chinese security officials signed a military-cooperation agreement this week to establish a joint commission to boost defense ties. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution and the subsequent severing of U.S. military assistance, Tehran has relied on Chinese arms to supplement its defense industry.
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The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued an update ‪on Friday evening‬‬‬‬‪ ‬‬to‬‬ ‬‬its guidance about sanctions relief to Iran under the nuclear agreement.
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During the first week of September, Iranian speedboats twice harassed U.S. Navy ships in international waters near the Strait of Hormuz. Those boats belonged to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
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